


Dianoigo

by AshSeven



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Birthday Smut, Fluff and Angst, Halloween, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Talking Animals, Witch Yuri, Witchcraft, but with a lot of Wicca
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-09 07:09:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16445186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshSeven/pseuds/AshSeven
Summary: Dianoigō - to open the mind of one, i.e. to cause to understand a thing; to open one's soul.When Otabek found out that his new, super-hot roommate was a warlock, he asked him out. Not because he was a warlock, but because he was super hot. Otabek could own up to the fact that he'd always been weird - not quirky weird, but freaking out his parents and classmates because he could see things no one else could and didn't know how to keep his mouth shut weird.Maybe diving headfirst into the supernatural would be a good thing in his case, but maybe doing so on Halloween was just a tiny bit more than he could handle.





	Dianoigo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chicalatina449](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chicalatina449/gifts).



Yuri was nervous about something. Well, he was usually nervous about a lot of things, Otabek had realised with the way he tugged at his hair, or chewed his lip, and pulled his sleeves over his fingers. He was generally pretty jumpy, and easily spooked. But, this morning was different, he was tugging at the royal-blue stone on one of leather cords around his neck, staring at his leopard-print comforter. He’d given Otabek a crash course on crystals just last week, Lapis lazuli was the truth stone, it helped with clear communication and ease of expressing ideas. He’d gotten a hundred percent on the impromptu quiz Yuri had given him. And since then he’d noticed just how much he rubbed the blue stone in particular.

“You okay?” Otabek  asked, sitting down next to Yuri and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Yuri blinked as if coming out of a trance, and nodded. The stripes of morning light that found their way through the half open blinds made his messy hair turn into golden fire and glinted off the thin silver chains around his neck and wrists. Otabek raised an eyebrow but didn’t push, instead just rubbed his shoulder through his thick, chunky-knitted sweater.

“Uh, I’m going home for a few days in two weeks,” Yuri began, still smoothing th lapis lazuli between his fingers. “Well, I’m leaving on Monday then getting back Thursday night.”

“You’re going home for Halloween?” Well, it made sense for _him_ , but there was no reason nervous about it. Otabek knew Halloween was special for him, more so than anyone else. And he didn’t blame him for not wanting to spend the creepiest time of year in their haunted dorm room. Just this morning Otabek had sworn he had seen something watching him in the mirror’s reflection.

A muscle in Yuri’s jaw twitched, but he nodded and took a deep breath. “And um, I know it’s your birthday too, and I don’t want to miss it, so um, do you want to come with me? I mean home with me.”

Oh. Otabek’s eyes widened as his mind scrambled for a way to answer that wouldn’t make Yuri change his mind. There was a sound like a whistling kettle going off in his head, and his face was growing just as hot. Okay, fine they’d only been officially dating for a month, and, yeah, he’d met Yuri’s brother over Skype, but this was so much more. Yeah, it was kind of a big deal. He heart was suddenly thudding, and his stomach was growing fuzz. And, wait, he hadn’t actually said anything yet even though his mouth was hanging open like a dead fish.

Yuri pulled away from him, spots of red blooming high on his cheeks as he picked a stray piece of lint from his leggings. “I mean If you don’t want to miss class it’s fine, and there are probably like ten paties that you got invited to-”

“Of course I want to,” he said, finally getting his mouth to work and grinned wide enough to make his eyes almost close.

“Really?” Yuri looked up through his eyelashes and something warm sliced through Otabek’s chest. “I mean it’s probably going to be… weird for you-”

Weird? Well, meeting Yuri’s family in person was a huge deal. He knew he was going to be stressing about it for the two weeks until they actually met. But it wasn’t exactly weird; he kind of already knew what he was getting into. Besides all the blurry, shadowed figures that had been had been passing through their room had been preparation enough. “Weird, why? Because you’re a witch?”

Yuri glared. “I’m not a witch.”

“Oh, sorry, _warlock_.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “Why are you like this?” Otabek chuckled. “Well, yeah that’s one of the reasons but-”

“I already told you, it doesn’t bother me. If it did I would have asked for a new roommate, _and_ I wouldn’t have asked you out.”  He wasn’t freaked out, if anything it was comforting to know that the supernatural _did_ exist, and he was just crazy or a liar like his family seemed to think.

“Yeah, I guess.” He grabbed a purple, cat-shaped pillow from behind him and hugged it to his chest. Yuri was a witch, he knew spells that could turn the entire university campus to dust, but Otabek had never seen anyone more adorable. His huge, green eyes peeking over the top of his pillow made Otabek think of a kitten. “But this is different! You’re not just going to walking in on me burning sage, or a talking cat, or... or…”

Otabek tapped him on the tip of the nose. “Drawing pentagrams on the walls.”

Yuri blushed again, batting Otabek on the chest with his pillow. “It wasn’t a _pentagram_. A-and if I hadn’t done that you would probably be dead now. Or possessed. You were supposed to have been at class! Ugh, it was a witch’s knot, not a pentagram!”

Otabek chuckled again, pulling Yuri flush against his chest. He’d been drawing his ‘witch’s knot’ over their door frame, when Otabek had opened the door and knocked him off his stool when he’d decided to skip class that one time. The scream Yuri had let out as he fell had Otabek worried he’d really injured him, but then he noticed the spilled bowl of charcoal powder, Yuri’s blackened fingers and all the candles. It had been one of the most awkward moments they had had before he’d found out Yuri’s secret. “Yeah, thanks for that.”

Yuri’s chest heaved as he took in a deep calming breath. “It’s just that I don’t want you to freak out or anything when you, like, see everything.”

“I won’t, promise.” He felt Yuri  tense slightly before wrapping his arms around his waist. He might, though, especially if there were anymore talking animals. Or snakes. He didn’t do snakes. But he was positive that there wasn’t going to be anything more freaky than what he’d already seen wandering around campus, or even the streets of his home town.

“Yeah, you say that _now_.”

“I mean, just give me a warning if you have like any monsters in you closet, or a cauldron in you basement-”

“You suck.”

Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye and the entire campus went from the university colours to orange and black, with fake cobwebs and bats. Yuri was right, he had gotten invited to like ten parties, the biggest one was hosted by JJ’s and Leo’s frat, but he’d gladly passed and ignored JJ’s and Leo’s teasing glances when he said he was going home with Yuri.

“I’d thought you’d be more in your element around Halloween,” Otabek mused as Yuri angrily yanked down the plastic jack-o-lantern face that one of the RA’s had hung up on their door. He’d been even more jumpy this week, hunching his shoulders even tighter as he walked to and from class, and was unable to sit still. Otabek had thought that mentioning all the blurry figures that started to hang around him would only make him more stressed. So he kept quiet about them, and tried not to make eye contact, especially since Yuri seemed like he didn’t notice them.

“I just want to get home,” he mumbled, tossing the witch into the trash, and kicked the door shut.

“Does that offend you?” Otabek glanced at the trash.

“Huh?”

“The pumpkin. All the decorations actually, and the costumes…”

Yuri paused, tilting his head to the side. “Not really, I guess. It’s just not real. It’s not the real thing.”

“Real thing?” He sat down on his bed, watching at Yuri pulled out a duffle bag from his closet, and began to toss clothes onto his bed. _Of course_ he hadn’t packed yet; his brother was supposed to be picking them up in half an hour. Otabek eyed his own gym bag waiting by the door.

“Yeah. Halloween is just this huge commercialised party. It doesn’t have like any real meaning any more.”

Otabek hummed, as Yuri tackled his shoes next, tossing them clear across the room. “So, I’m guessing we’re not riding a broomstick to your quaint cottage on the edge of a secluded village?”

He got a cat-face sock tossed at his face. “I’ll shove a broomstick up your ass.”

“Kinky.”

Yuri blushed. “Fuck you.”

“Sure, if you want.”

“Otabek!”

“Sorry,” he snickered. “You just make it too easy, babe.”

 

Yuri’s half brother, Viktor, picked them up after lunch in a silver Audi A8 L and Otabek’s jaw nearly dropped. Yuri had told him his brother’s family was kind of loaded, but he still had not been expecting a car this nice. And dare he say it, he hadn’t been expecting anything this nice, especially not from a family of witches. He mentally kicked himself for thinking that. But, it was still satisfying to watch as one of the jocks that had made fun of Yuri for his stringy sweaters and chunky jewellery nearly walked into a light post trying to see who was driving the car. He wrapped an arm around Yuri’s waist, and Yuri scoffed softly, stooping slightly to kiss his temple.

A brown poodle was riding shotgun, and when the window rolled down another tinier poodle of the same colour popped up and started barking. Cute, Otabek couldn’t stop his smile, even as Viktor, who looked like a male model from _France_ stepped out and hugged Yuri.

“You saw me last night,” Yuri grumbled wiggling out on his hug and scowling.

“But it’s not the same!”

They didn’t look like brothers at all, apart from their long noses and high foreheads. And neither of them looked like witches - _warlocks_ \- not with bright blue and green eyes, and pale blond hair, Viktor was more platinum while Yuri’s was wheat, but where was the black? The dark makeup and black clothes. Again he was being terribly stereotypical. Yuri had told him over and over, everything he knew about halloween was basically a gross exaggeration, but the boy walked around with tarot cards and sage in his pockets and he’d seen him praying over candles and burning herbs on more than one occasion.

“And Otabek! It’s nice to finally see you in person-”

Yuri shoved past him, dragging Otabek to the trunk. “Stop making it weird!” he yelled. “And open the trunk!”

Yuri lived four hours away from the university, and listening to Viktor and Yuri argue about everything they could think of - Viktor’s shades were dumb, Yuri needed a haircut, even the car’s smell - was endlessly entertaining as Yuri slung his feet over the centre partition and kicked Viktor to prove certain points. Even the dogs seemed to be listening, eyes bouncing from Viktor to Yuri and Otabek in the back seat.

Resting his cheek against Yuri’s shoulder, Otabek nudged him gently, stopping him mid-sentence.

“Can they talk?” he whispered.

Yuri hesitated for a second before nodding. “Makkachin’s the big one-”

The standard poodle bounced onto Yuri’s legs, tail wagging and tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. “And Vicchan’s my mini-me!”

It was still weird. It would never not be weird to have an animal talk right in front of him. Yuri squeezed his knee.

“Makkachin,” Viktor sighed, reaching over and tugging the dog back into the front seat.

“What? He asked about us! He knows about us!”

He sounded like an excited child and his tail was thumping against the seat.

“Did Yuri tell you about us?” a softer voice asked, and Otabek had to lean forward to see the toy poodle shyly peering at him.

He blinked, the dog had asked him a question. _The dog_. “Uh-”

“Potya did,” Yuri cut him off.

The two dogs gasped. “Did she get in trouble?”

Yuri giggled, nuding Makkachin with his toe. “Why don’t you ask her when we get home?”

That seemed to satisfy them and they went to talking quietly between themselves, calling out the different things they saw through the window.

“You’re taking this pretty well,” Viktor said, smiling at them through the rearview mirror. “I thought I’d have to pull over.”

“I was... warned about it.” A mild way to put it, he had screamed a lot when he’d walked in on Yuri’s cat.

Viktor narrowed his eyes. “A story you’ll have to tell us over dinner, then.”

Yuri groaned sliding over until his head was resting against Otabek’s lap.

Otabek decided that the house on the other hand was _boring_ when they finally arrived. Otabek looked around from his position in the foyer. They had pulled up to a modern, two-story house with protruding, boxy windows and a slanted roof. Inside was the same, it felt light and airy, especially with orange light from the sunlight pouring into the living room from the giant windows. Everything was open and white, from the walls, to the floating stairs, and the minimalist furniture. He tried not to look too disappointed as he pulled off his shoes. He was in a house of three warlocks, and it was way too normal. He’d been picturing a lot of black, and maybe a few cobwebs or two, squeaky wooden floors, and dusty windows. Yuri would have probably punched him if he said it aloud. But either Viktor or Yuuri had an obsession with candles because there were everywhere, and the only remotely witchy looking thing were vases of dried flower arrangements.

Otabek’s room looked over an orange and red forest with golden light shining over the horizon. Again it all looked so normal, open and white, with a too large bed, a boxy, white dresser, and more minimalist furniture. But there was a bowl of different coloured crystals on his dresser, and a sprig of herbs perched on the door frame, and when he looked under the bed - because there had to be something hiding - a few strange runes were drawn onto the floor.

“Don’t touch that.”

He jumped, hitting the back of his head against the bed frame. He swore both the bed and the floor shook, and he had seen stars for a second. He bit his tongue to keep from crying out, but he had to take a few minutes, groaning on the floor and holding his head. He hadn’t heard anyone come in, who - Oh. Yuri’s cat. He blinked away tiny, hot tears, holding his head as the throbbing slow receded. How did she get in? The door was still closed, and she definitely hadn’t been in here when he first came in.

Yuri’s cat was lounging on the middle of the bed, grooming her face until she saw him looking then blinked a few times, tail swishing from side to side. “If you touch that, bad things will happen.”

“Uh...” He was never going to get used to this.

“Master won’t like it if you die.” She went back to her grooming, leaving Otabek stunned on the floor. “You’re clumsy. Like the dogs. You should be more careful.”

Otabek binked, his jaw falling open. The cat, was chastising him. _The cat_. Okay, maybe this was the weirdness he’d been looking for?

There was a knock on the door and Yuri poked his head in. “Hey, we’re going to eat dinner soon and - what are you doing on the floo- Potya! What did you do?”

The cat got to her feet, yawning and stretching out. “Nothing,” she said innocently, jumping off the bed and winding her tail around Yuri’s leg as she left the room.

Rolling his eyes, Yuri shut the door and went over to help Otabek up.

“She just startled me. Hit my head.”

Yuri sighed. “She likes doing that. Does it still hurt?”

“A little bit.”

Yuri raised his hands to Otabek’s temples. He took a deep breath, eyes falling shut as he traced a pattern against his skin and mumbled something in a different language. The back of Otabek’s neck prickled, but the throbbing stopped immediately.

“Wow.” His mouth stretched into a smile as he blinked, reaching up to rub at the sore spot on his head.

“Better?” Yuri asked, biting his lip.

“Yeah. So, where was that when I got all those headaches during midterms?” He reached up, cupping Yuri’s jaw with both hands and guiding him down for a kiss. But he was giggling too much and they broke apart seconds later. “What?”

“Your hair. You look like you were electrocuted.”

He ran a hand through his hair, scoffing when he felt almost every strand standing on end. Yuri covered his mouth as he laughed.

“Sorry,” he giggled.

Otabek tried to pat everything back into place, while hooking his other arm around Yuri’s waist and pulling them flush together. He kissed him again and Yuri managed to keep it together long enough for them to get somewhere.

Dinner was unbearably normal too. Viktor’s husband was a kind, bubbly Japanese man also named Yuuri. He wasn’t necessarily quiet but compared to the antics of the other two, he was soft spoken, and very patient. He thought that Yuri and Viktor’s arguing would have stopped in the car, but it seemed that they enjoyed needling each other until they got into an animated shouting match, well Yuri was shouting, but Viktor was egging him on. Yuuri apologised for them, and Otabek found it hilarious when they settled down after they saw his death glare. Otabek was happy just watching them, especially since Yuri seemed so relaxed and happy now that he was home. So, he didn’t say much over dinner, and told himself that the translucent figures that peered at them from the living room were probably normal in this house. No one else seemed bothered by them.

His head was buzzing with a weird energy when he laid down in bed shortly after eating. He thought that he wouldn’t have been able to fall asleep, but he did in a matter of seconds. It must have had something to do with the hot chocolate Yuuri had given him. He had said that it would help him to sleep soundly, but now he was considering that maybe he hadn’t been joking when he said he’d enchanted it. His eyes and limbs grew heavy on their own, and he didn’t even remember dreaming. The next thing he knew, however, was Yuri jumping onto his bed, long limbs curling around him as he kissed him and mumbled ‘happy birthday’.

Otabek blinked awake, feeling groggier than after nights of drinking with JJ and Leo during his first year. But now that Yuri was in his bed, wiggling under the covers, his arms and legs felt almost weightless and his head was clearing at an alarming pace.

“How’re you feeling, birthday boy?” Yuri asked softly, and Otabek felt slender fingers tracing circles around his eyes. “You better be well rested.”

“Huh?” he mumbled, rolling onto his side. “Was the hot chocolate Yuuri gave me really enchanted?”

“Kinda…” Yuri threw a leg over his thigh. Otabek had no choice but to smooth his palm along it. Yuri insisted on wearing nothing but boxer-briefs to sleep, and his legs were freshly shaved and silky smooth. “I mean, it was a really watered-down version of the spell. I do it to myself when I can’t sleep sometimes. I guess it’s like chamomile tea on steroids.”

Oh. Otabek blinked again, suddenly not feeling tired at all. A spell, an actual spell. And well, he couldn't say that it hadn’t helped. It felt like he’d gotten some really good sleep. “Oh, well I guess I do feel great, then. Definitely well-rested for being a sleep-deprived college student less than twelve hours ago.”

Yuri scoffed. “Good. It’s gonna be a long day today.”

Raising an eyebrow, Otabek reached for his phone on the nightstand. “It’s not even six yet. Why are we awake?”

Despite the darkness of the room, he could tell that Yuri’s face was red. “Well, um, there’s a lot we have to do today and, well… I wanted to giveyouyourbirthdaypresent.”

“My… birthday present?” Otabek tangled his fingers in his hair even as he started to squirm, and he had to fight from pinning Yuri onto his back and practically _devouring_ him.

“Okay, I know we’ve only been dating for like a month-”

“A month and two weeks.”

“Ugh, you sap. We’ve _only been dating for a month_ , but it’s your birthday so… uh, if you want…”

Otabek took a deep breath through his nose, digging his fingers into Yuri’s thigh. “If I want,” he echoed, pushing his fingertips under the hem of Yuri’s underwear. “I don’t think that’s even an option at this point.”

Yuri scoffed before cupping the back of Otabek’s head and gently kissing the side of his mouth. He’d be lying if he  said he hadn’t thought about this ever since he’d Yuri had first walked into their dorm room asking if he was in the right place. Of course it had been terribly awkward, lusting after his roommate, jerking off in the bathroom and wondering how his low voice would sound moaning his name. And yes, they had only been dating for a month and two weeks but the last thing he wanted to do was scare Yuri away by going too fast. Still, Yuri liked cuddling; he liked spooning during movie nights, and more often than not they spent the night in the same bed. He knew Yuri knew what he did to him when they’d abandoned their movie for handjobs or were late for morning classes because they had decided that sucking each other off was a better idea.

So yeah, he’d been waiting for this for a while now.

Yuri’s mouth was feverish against his, and he rolled his hips against Otabek’s not shy at all when his hard-on brushed against Otabek’s stomach. A rush of heat rolled down his gut and he knew his sweatpants were tented right below where Yuri’s leg was hiked over him. He let his hands trail all over Yuri’s body, down his shoulders, his spine, his ribs. He was so long, but often curled over like a cat. Otabek often forgot how tall he was until they ended up tangled like this. Yuri held his face, fingers soft against his jaw and cheeks, as he deepened the kiss, soft breaths sounding almost like moans. And yes, holy shit, this was actually happening right now. He had to remind himself to breathe. Yuri’s earthy, herby scent was grounding, but made his stomach fall over itself and tighten in heat.

Hands tight against Yuri’s hips, he bucked up into him chasing friction that his sweatpants could not give him. He growled softly, sinking his teeth into Yuri’s lower lip as he grabbed his ass, pinching and squeezing. Yuri squeaked, jumping in surprise, but his breath hitched when Otabek began to knead, pulling his cheeks apart and digging his fingers into the soft muscle.

He swore under his breath, letting his head fall against Otabek’s chest, his back curving into an unnatural angle, which Otabek’d didn’t pretend to understand. Grinning, Otabek yanked the hem of his underwear down, and Yuri wiggled, helping him push them down to his ankles. Yuri straddled him, completely bare, and now that grey morning light was starting to stream through the feather-light drapes, Otabek could see his flushed cheeks and pink, swollen lips. His hair fell in a tangled mess down his shoulders, and Otabek knew he would complain about having to comb it out later. But, his mouth stretched into a wide grin, and he heaved breathless, as he trailed a single finger down the centre of Yuri’s chest, around one of his nipples, then down his stomach, soft and flat with skin pulled tight across hip bones. He circled his navel, eyes dropping to the erection curved up his stomach. And okay, yes, saliva pooled in his mouth. But Yuri was beautiful, every inch of him, from his wheat-gold hair to his painted toenails, and okay he was a bit skinny, almost too skinny, but Otabek had seen him decimate an entire pizza in one sitting. Yeah, he was perfect.

Otabek sat up, pressing his face to the centre of Yuri’s stomach, breathing in lavender and sage and the faintest hint of salt. He swirled his tongue around the little indent between the curved edges of his ribcage as he let his hands curve around to his ass. Yuri’s breath stuttered and he wrapped his arms around Otabek’s head, fingers threading through his hair, tugging not so gently. But Otabek did remember telling him that he liked it a bit rough, encouraging him to use his nails or pull his hair when he sucked him off in between classes.

Pressing his fingertips into Yuri’s ass cheeks and pulling them apart, he grinned. A soft moan fell from Yuri’s lips, and Otabek pressed his lips to his skin, sliding his fingers along his crease. He certainly wasn’t expecting the slide of lube.

“Yura?” he asked, pulling back.

Yuri bit his lip, reaching up to tug at the tangled mass of hair. “I… uh, prepped already.”

Otabek’s eyebrows shot up and his jaw dropped. Okay, that was just a little bit, no, very fucking hot. But, “Why?”

Yuri scoffed, getting onto his knees so he could ease Otabek’s sweatpants and underwear down his thighs. Otabek hissed, when cool air met heated flesh, but Yuri’s hands were on him in seconds, pumping and teasing. He couldn’t stop his nails from scrabbling at the sheets.

“So,” Yuri mumbled, looking at Otabek from between clumps of hair. He threw his leg over him again, positioning himself over his cock. “I can do this.”

He sank down in one smooth motion, his mouth falling open and eyes falling shut. Otabek bit his lip, watching and trying not to moan too loudly as Yuri enveloped him in tight, silky heat. There was the slightest bit of resistance, they should have used more lube, but Yuri’s moan told him he didn’t mind.

“Fuck, Yura,” he groaned, basically seeing stars as Yuri’s muscles contracted around him.

“It’s your birthday,” Yuri said, breathlessly as he started to roll his hips. “I wanted to do something… special.” He ended in a low moan, sinking down as far as he could and tightening his muscles.

Otabek swore, holding onto Yuri’s thighs. Fuck, he felt so good. This was so worth the wait. He hadn’t even pictured it going like this. That Yuri would end up riding him as a birthday present. “Yes, babe, like that. Exactly like that.”

Yuri smiled, the growing light from the windows bathing him in faint white. He pulled his hair over his shoulders before throwing his head back and picking up a quick, rough rhythm, his calves and thighs tensing with each bounce.

Harsh breathing mingled with moans and the slap of Yuri’s ass against Otabek’s hips echoed around the room. And in a far away place in his mind Otabek hoped that Viktor and Yuuri wouldn’t be able to hear them. It was a miracle the bed frame didn’t creak.

Yuri’s mouth hung open and low, breathy moans escaped him each time he bottomed out. Otabek lay still at first, watching mesmerised as spirals of pleasure circled out from his cock. Yuri was so hot and smooth, so tight that Otabek couldn’t picture anything better. Not when Yuri was practically writhing around him, his stomach concave as he breathed in like he couldn’t catch his breath and his cock bouncing against his stomach as he moved. Highlighted in the dim white, he was beautiful, so soft and pale that Otabek was almost afraid he’d disappear. He held onto his hips, pressing his palms into the soft squishy muscle above his hip bones, digging his thumbs into his stomach, and dragging his index fingers along the beads of sweat that had formed on his back.

It was perfect, a little too perfect, because he felt when Yuri’s thighs started to tremble and his bounces took more time and became shallower until he stopped, fully seated, and leaned forward bracing his hands against Otabek’s shoulders and panting.

“Fuck,” he said breathlessly, his eyes were still closed, as he slowly rolled his hips. “That burns.”

Otabek snickered, still feeling him tremble. “It’s okay, babe, take your time.”

Yuri grumbled, opening his eyes and glaring even as he spread his legs wider and ground downwards, taking in just a little bit more. Otabek couldn’t stop himself from gasping.

“Shut up,” Yuri grumbled, forcibly clenching his ass as he rolled his hips again. “Not everyone can be a star hockey player with granite thighs.”

Otabek swore his eyes rolled back into his head, but he was still able to see Yuri’s mouth fall open in a silent moan as he bucked his hips upwards. He reached up, cupping his jaw, and smoothing his thumb across his cheek and bottom lip. “It wouldn’t be so hard if you did any exercise at all.”

“Shut up. I do exercise,” he mumbled.

“Yoga doesn’t do much for endurance, babe.”

Yuri’s response was to swivel his hips, changing the angle and probably managing to graze his prostate judging by the way his muscles contracted around Otabek and he collapsed onto his chest.

“Fuck,” he moaned, his voice trembling as well. His hair tickled Otabek’s chest and his new position pressed his cock firmly against Otabek’s stomach.

“You okay,” Otabek asked even though he already knew the answer.

“Yeah.” Yuri bit his lip as he looked up at him. “But I don’t think I can…”

“It’s okay, babe,” he couldn’t stop the smile in his voice as he trailed his hands down Yuri’s hips, to hold onto the back of his thighs, keeping him still as he bucked up into him. Yuri’s breath ghosted across Otabek’s face as it was knocked out of him and his nails dig into his shoulders. He convulsed, practically turning to jelly and Otabek’s stomach tightened and he felt his cock twitch even as he slide in and out of Yuri.

“Shit,” he hissed, “shit shit shit shit shit shit.”

Otabek chuckled craning his neck to capture Yuri’s mouth in a sloppy kiss. His entire body was trembling now, but his mouth was hot and needy. Otabek breathed him in, fingers pressing into his thighs, wondering if he’d leave purple spots for later that day.

“That good, baby?” He asked, pulling away and kissing the corner of his mouth.

Yuri moaned right into his mouth. “Fuck! Shit Beka, I-I’m gonna, I can't-”  he broke off in a gasp as Otabek thrust up into him. “Shit.”

On trembling arms, he propped himself up and reached in between them to wrap his fingers around his cock. Otabek’s eyes fell to his hand, pumping himself frantically as his breathing sped up to match. His hips almost stuttered, forgetting how to move as Yuri’s moans climbed in pitch and he screwed his eyes shut, tiny lines forming between his eyebrows as his mouth hanging open. He couldn’t tell if it was his own sweat or if Yuri was dripping precum onto his stomach, but his lungs froze all the same.

“Fuck, don’t stop Beka,” Yuri whined, rolling his hips as Otabek realised he’d stilled to a halt, too mesmerised to keep moving.

Biting his lip, he snapped his hips upwards, nearly throwing Yuri forward. They moaned together, Otabek breathless while Yuri was high and needy. He felt every twitch and jerk as Yuri pumped himself, each hitched, trembling breath and the almost rhythmic contraction of his inner walls.

He ground his teeth together, his breathing so shallow he was beginning to feel light headed, or maybe it was just that all the blood in his body was now in his dick. It was throbbing, and each time Yuri tightened around him white hot sparks would dance up to his stomach. He wasn’t going to last much longer either. It was all he could do to keep up his rhythm. To keep thrusting until Yuri was done.

“Beka!” Yuri’s voice was loud and raw, and the windows rattled with the following scream. Holy shit, Otabek’s eyes widened, and was the bed shaking too or was that - scalding spurts of Yuri’s release painted his stomach and chest and Yuri groaned, arching his spine and shaking. His walls tightened like a silken vice and Otabek froze, a high whine building at the back of his throat. Holy shit. But then Yuri collapsed against him, hand finally stilling and his walls relaxed only weak waves of contractions left behind after his orgasm.

Letting go of his thighs to card his fingers through his sweat dampened hair, Otabek felt as his breathing slowly came back to normal as well.

Yuri gulped a lungful of air, smoothing a palm along Otabek’s shoulder. “Did you…”

“Not yet.” He was right there, though, balancing on the edge.

“Shit.” Yuri started to scramble, sitting up before Otabek held him down.

“It’s okay-”

“No, it’s not.. fuck it was supposed to be your birthday pres-”

Otabek hushed him with a kiss. “Hey, I’ll be fine, babe. Just let me,” he thrust up into him and sparks flew up his cock. But he studied Yuri’s face for any signs of discomfort; he would be sensitive after coming. “Tell me if this is too much.”

Yuri swallowed, pushing his hair over his shoulder and wiping the sweat from his forehead. He jolted forward with each gentle thrust and chewed on his lip. It took him only a few more thrusts, listening to Yuri’s soft, hitching breath, for him to feel a hot tightening coil in his gut. He pushed in as deeply as he could go, and Yuri, bless him, clenched his muscles tight. He came with a deep groan, his entire body buzzing and light and a fire ignited in his gut. All he could hear was a ringing and blood pounding in his ears, and feel his cock pulsing and twitching deep within Yuri’s ass.

Shit, maybe he should have asked first. But when his vision cleared Yuri was staring down at him with a small smile on his lips, fine, baby hairs glowing in the dim light, and he was stroking his jaw with trembling fingers.

“You’re so beautiful,” Otabek wisphered when his voice started working again. He was panting for air and his chest was seizing, but he had to let Yuri know. “I think I really love you.”

Yuri’s eyes widened slightly, before he shook his head and grinned widely. “Yeah, I know.” He smoothed Otabek’s hair back from his forehead. “I think I really love you too.”

He hugged him tightly. He didn’t care that they were both slick with sweat and cum, or about the drops of cum that dripped from Yuri’s ass as his softening cock slid out of him when they moved. No, it was perfect.

He and Yuri had gone back to sleep, limbs heavy with post-orgasmic bliss before the sun had fully risen. When Otabek woke up again, Yuri was gone and his room smelled clean, like fresh lavender and laundry. He had hoped, even said a short prayer, that Yuri riding him until he saw double wasn’t a dream, but when he wandered into Yuri’s room after showering he assured him that it wasn’t. He had kissed him senseless, but then said with cheeks reddening by the second that he was actually using a numbing spell on his ass right then. There was still a lot that he wanted to do today apparently. And a nature-walk was at the top of the list.

“Do you want to come with us?” Otabek asked the cat. Yes, _asked the cat_ , as he bent over to pull on his shoes in the foyer.

Potya cracked an eye open, tail slowly swinging back and forth against the back of the couch. Viktor and Yuuri must have had a spell to get rid of pet dander, because two brown dogs and a cat with black patches would not be kind to all the white furniture. She watched him tie up up his shoes before closing back her eye. “No.”

He scoffed, standing up and jogging down the driveway to where Yuri was waiting with the dogs. He was in a huge, dark pink sweater and leggings, with his hair pulled up into a messy bun, and the only witch thing about him where his stone and crystal charms. He was still adorable, even though Otabek had been hoping for a lot more black, just so he could say he had a goth boyfriend.

“Potya didn’t want to come,” he announced, grabbing Yuri around the waist. Yuri rolled his eyes.

“She’s boring,” Vicchan whined, before Makkachin hushed him.

“Shhh, we’re not supposed to talk outside - oh!” He looked up at Yuri, eyes full of guilt.

Otabek chuckled when Vicchan’s eyes widened and he hung his head in apology. They were adorable. They probably also had immense magical power and could set him on fire, but they were adorable. Yuri grabbed Otabek’s hand leading him down a windy path between the orange and red trees, just outside the gate. The dogs bounded on ahead.

“How do you even find talking animals to be your familiars?” he mumbled, breathing in the cool morning air.

“They don’t talk at first. It just sort of happens after a while. I got Potya as a kitten, but she didn’t talk for like a year.”

“Huh, weird.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “ _You’re_ weird.”

“Won’t deny it. I mean, I am dating a witch after all.”

“ _Bek_ -”

“ _Warlock_.”

Yuri huffed, tugging at one of his crystals. “That wasn’t… never mind.”

Otabek dropped Yuri’s hand to wind his arm around his waist, leaning against him as they walked. “So, I heard your brother talking about a feast tonight.”

“Yeah, Katsudon and his mom love cooking. She’ll probably be over later and rope us in to help. Sorry, it’s not going to be the most glamourous birthday.”

“I don’t mind. Also your pets don’t know how to whisper, apparently Yuuri is making me a cake.”

Yuri chuckled, stomping on a freshly fallen orange leaf. “No, the dogs are terrible at speaking quietly. Yeah, he would though. I bet he got a spirit to tell him your favourite type of cake too.”

“He can do that?”

“Yeah. Well you’ll find out more about it tonight, anyway.”

“What’s happening tonight?”

Yuri swallowed, tugging at one of the leather cords at his neck. Otabek didn’t see which stone he grabbed this time. “Well, all the commercialisation and TV shows got one thing right. It’s the one night of the year where the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest. And, uh, Samhain is a time to remember those who have passed on and ask their guidance.”

Otabek couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping or the sharp intake of breath. “We’re going to speak to the dead?”

“It’s not what you’re thinking; we’re not going to _conjure up ghosts or use freaking ouija boards_.” Yuri bit his lip. “But yes.”

“Holy shit.”

Yuri elbowed him in the side. Otabek laughed, his chest so light and airy he felt he could run a mile. This was by far going to be one of the most memorable birthdays he had ever had. And surprisingly enough it wasn’t even because of Yuri’s _special_ birthday present from this morning. He didn’t bother trying to hide his grin; it wasn’t like anyone was around to point it out anyway. He watched as Yuri looked up at the trees, not even bothering to pay attention to where he walked. The chilly air had his cheeks and nose turning pink, and a few wisps of hair had come free of his bun. He reached up, to smoothe one away from his temple.

“Hey, thanks for inviting me.”

Yuri grinned, looking down at him. “You don’t think it’s weird or anything?”

“Honestly, you guys are so normal it’s almost disappointing.”

Yuri rolled his eyes, elbowing him in the ribs. “ _Sorry it’s not up to your standards._ I’ll leave my cauldron and Book of Shadows on your bed next time.”

“A book of what now?”

Yuri blushed, the red going down to his shirt collar. “It’s just like… a scrapbook. For like notes on spells and like writing down dreams, stuff you don’t want to forget or is important...”

“It sounds so menacing.”

“I… well yeah.” Yuri huffed, looking at him out of the corner of his eyes. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”

Otabek just shrugged and grinned. With all this witchy stuff around him, he didn’t feel like a freak for once. They fell into silence, shoes crushing leaves as they walked. The path was covered with leaves at this point, Otabek had no idea if they were even following it anymore. But Yuri seemed to know where he was going, even though he was looking up at the treetops again. Out here, in his element, Yuri seemed so at peace; he wasn’t jittering with nervous energy, scowling at everything, or on the edge of his temper blowing up in flames. It was like this inner peace radiated from his core, he was actually smiling, frown lines gone from between his eyebrows, and he was glowing.

“I come out here to think,” Yuri said as they walked into a small clearing, made where the earth suddenly turned upwards and exposed a wall of bare rock, cracked by gnarled, widening roots. Yuri pulled him up to a mossy boulder with a dip in its surface that could serve as a comfortable seat. A thinking chair, he could see yuri sitting out here in the orange evenings, shuffling his tarots and chewing his lip, deep in thought. Still grinning, Otabek sat down, then pulled Yuri onto his lap.

“You like being out here,” he mused, as a gust of wind mussed the wisps of hair around Yuri’s face. “I’ve never seen you so calm before.”

Yuri blushed again, staring at something on the ground. “I guess. I mean, white magic, the kind that I - well our family, practices uses energy from nature, from plants, the earth, the sky, anything around us, really. So I guess, I dunno, I just feel at home.”

Otabek held his breath, staring at Yuri as he spoke. He’d be asking for weird, for bizzare, for something creepy or spooky, or Halloween-y in fact. But, really this, right here, was the heart of it all. He reached up, smoothing a finger along Yuri’s jaw. Yuri finally looked back at him, eyes so big and green, something flared in Otabek’s chest.

“So is that the reason why our dorm room looks like a greenhouse?”

“Shut up!”

Scoffing, he reached around, cupping the back of Yuri’s head and guided their mouths together. Yuri’s hands came up as well, holding onto his shoulders with chilled, slender fingers. But his mouth was like fire, sending warmth down to Otabek’s stomach. Their mouths moved together, breaths hot and mingling; he tasted herby, he often smelled like a spice rack, but Otabek preferred it to any store bought perfume. When Yuri’s hands traveled up to the side of his neck, fingers finally warmed back to normal, Otabek pulled him in deeper. A soft moan left Yuri’s lips as their tongues tangled. _Oh Allah,_ he could kiss this boy forever, he could get lost in him, overcome with white-hot need.

When he first saw Yuri, nervously standing in the centre of their dorm room, with a potted plant in his arms, a giant teal sweater, knee high black, leather boots, and hair a tangled mess down his back, he had wondered how he was supposed to make it through the year with a roommate this hot. He was quirky at first, with all the odd trinkets he carried around, or foreign words he mumbled under his breath, and the amount of candles and incense he lit - disregarding the student handbook. He was also very jumpy and scatterbrained, by it was endearing, especially when he warmed up to the point of talking so fast he stumbled over his words and mixed up his sentences, sometimes moving onto whole new subjects before he remembered something he had wanted to say hours ago.

Finding out he was a real live warlock had been… wild. Honestly, he had ran out of the room, off campus actually, until his mind cleared enough to remember Yuri’s clearly hurt expression before the door slammed shut. He’d been on the floor, gasping for breath, and yet Otabek has just left him, because he’d gotten scared. He had every reason to be scared, though, a fucking evil spirit had manifested in their dorm. But, Yuri had saved them both and he was the last person in the world who should make someone feel bad for being different. He knew how it felt, and he was a dick for passing it onto Yuri. He had gone back a few hours later with two large cups of coffee, some cookies, and a few tiny bottles of spiced rum, and they had talked. He asked Yuri out a few weeks later, even though he was still trying to wrap his head around everything.

Yuri’s breath was warm as it ghosted across his face when he pulled back for a short moment. He gently massaged the back of Otabek’s neck, grinning shyly with half-lidded eyes before diving back in. A spark ignited in Otabek’s stomach, quickly growing and spreading until the front of his pants was uncomfortably tight, and the pressure from Yuri sitting on him had hot tremors shoot up to his stomach. He held Yuri tight around the waist, slowly inching his fingers downwards until he was running his palms along the curve of his ass and thighs. Yuri’s breath hitched, and he pulled away to sigh against the corner of Otabek’s mouth, rubbing their noses together.

The words built on Otabek’s tongue before he even realised and his mouth moved on its own. “I lo…” he trailed off and swallowed. Okay, well he did, but he couldn’t say it out loud just like that. Were they ready for that yet?

Yuri blinked slowly, probably catching on, as a slow unsure grin grew on his mouth. He kissed him again, slow and soft, hands travelling back down to his shoulders.

“Are you two like our masters?” A bubbly voice echoed around the clearing.

They sprang apart, Yuri jumping off his lap and straightening his shirt. And Otabek looked around, completely missing the tiny dog at his calf until he felt him paw at his leg.

Vicchan stared up at him with huge black eyes, almost completely covered by chocolate curls. His little, stubby tail was twitching as if he didn’t know whether he wanted to wag it or not. Yuri was pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand and scratching the poof on top Makkachin’s head with the other.

“What?” Otabek asked, breathlessly. He hadn’t even heard them come. Like they had floated over the leaves.

Vicchan jumped, nails catching on his jeans and Otabek had to bite back a smile, picking him up. Oh, wow, he barely weighed a thing.

“Are you two like our masters?” He asked again.

“Um…” Okay, why was it suddenly hot?

“He means,” Makkachin clarified, walking up to rest his chin against Otabek’s knee. “Are you and Yura one like our masters?”

Otabek’s mouth opened, but nothing came out except a strangled breath of air.

Yuri was tomato red when Otabek looked to him for help. “No! We’re not,” he screeched.

“But…” Makkachin started but decided not to continue. Vicchan, however barrelled on.

“But we heard you two this morning-“

“No!” Yuri yelled, his voice high and squeaky. “Forget everything about that. You didn’t hear anything.”

Vicchan’s growl was just as tiny and adorable as the rest of him. As was the soft thump he made when he jumped from Otabek’s lap. Otabek cleared his throat, tugging at the collar of his shirt. Even his skin was hot to the touch. Well, sex was out of the picture for the remainder of the time here.

When they got back to the house there were two new cars parked in the driveway. Neither of them were as nice as Viktor’s so, he assumed they were Yuuri’s relatives. Loud voices floated out from open windows, as well as a light blue-purple smoke. The two dogs glanced at each other before tearing off for the front door. Vicchan struggled to keep up with Makkachin as they both forgot that they weren’t supposed to speak outside.

“Grandma!” they yelled, running through the door that had magically opened to let them in.

Grandma turned out to be Yuuri’s mother. She’d come over early to help cook, just like Yuri had said, but Yuuri’s father, sister, and a few family friends were bumbling around the house decorating and cleaning. A fluffy border collie followed Yuuri’s father around, and a tabby cat was napping alongside Potya. And _there_ was the straw broom, he couldn’t help but hide a smile as a willowy woman with long brown hair, a beauty mark under her eye, and a simple black dress swept the dining room floor.

“You look like a strong young man,” Yuuri’s mother, a short, bubbly woman with glasses dragged him into the kitchen almost as soon as he had taken off his shoes. “Come knead the dough for me.”

There was a giant ball of dough on one of the floured countertops. While ten different aromas wafted from around the kitchen, the source of the blue smoke was a bubbling pot on the stove. Otabek didn’t think it was food; it smelled almost like a perfume. Yuuri was grinding a mixture of purple flowers and a bunch of dried herbs with a mortar and pestle. His glasses were smudged, and his face was rudy from the heat of the kitchen but he seemed happy. If dinner last night had told Otabek anything it was that Yuuri was an incredible cook. He couldn’t wait to see what they were having tonight.

“Um-”

“Oh wash your hands first,” she smiled at him, before turning to push Yuri to the sink. “And, you wash those up for us, please, Yurio.”

Otabek blinked, as Yuri sighed, rolling up his sleeves. “Hi, Hiroko. It’s nice to see you again. This is Otabek, by the way, my, uh, my boyfriend.” He blushed, and Otabek’s stomach flipped.

“Otabek,” she turned to him as he wiped his hands on a dishtowel, and something about her smile made him nervous, or that could have been the wary looked Yuuri and Yuri shared. “Did you you two meet at university?”

He nodded, pressing his palms into the dough.

“We’re roommates,” Yuri jumped in.

“That’s lovely, it worked out perfectly. See, Yurio you didn’t have to be so worried about your roommate assignment.”

Otabek raised an eyebrow, looking over his shoulder at the back of Yuri’s head. Yeah, that would have been something he would freak out about. It had worked out nicely, though. He looked back to the dough. Whatever they were making, there was a lot of it.

“Is this your first Samhain?” Hiroko went on.

“I… uh, yeah.”

That had apparently been the wrong thing to say, because one of the little girls, Otabek assumed they were triplets, made a U-turn on her way into the kitchen,Yuri groaned, and Yuuri sighed softly.

“Mom,” he grumbled softly, but Hiroko ignored them, squeezing Otabek’s shoulders as she began reciting what sounded like a poem. It wasn’t a poem; it was a history lesson.

“October thirty-first,” Hiroko said, flicking her fingers at a knife causing it to stand on its blade and begin to dice a pile of onions. “Is the midway point between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice. It’s the end of harvest time; when everything has stopped growing and the earth goes back to sleep. It’s also the day when the god dies, in order to be reborn again on the Winter Solstice. And, as a result, Samhain is the day when the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest, and a time to honour and remember those who have passed away.”

She didn’t end there, however and Otabek felt a little wobbly when he and Yuri were finally allowed to leave the kitchen.

“Am I an honorary warlock now?” he asked Yuri, wrapping an arm around his waist.

Yuri grinned through a mouthful of stolen soul cake. He’d stuffed his pockets with the tiny currant cakes, bouncing off before either Yuuri or Hiroko could catch him. The dining table and living room were fully decorated in a more halloween-y fashion. There were candles everywhere, sprigs of foliage, dried flower arrangements, and black fabric was draped over the back of the couch, twined around the curtains, and the back of the chairs at the dining table. The table itself was still mostly white, but set up with tiny, golden pumpkins at each place setting, immaculate crystal glasses, and antique silverware and an elaborate candelabra sat in the centre of round black flower and woven stick arrangement. But what drew his attention was a leafless tree on the coffee table. The triplets were busy making little paper decorations, sitting on cushions in frilly, black dresses and charm bracelets similar to Yuri’s.

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing at the tree.

Yuri swallowed and brushed the crumbs from his cheeks, leading Otabek over to the couch, and handing each of the triplets a cake. “It’s our Samhain tree.” He sat down, pulling Otabek onto the couch next to him. Otabek pulled him close, wrapping an arm around his waist as Yuri tucked his feet underneath him and laid his head against his shoulder. One of the triplets looked up at them and made a face. “It’s to celebrate and remember our ancestors and anyone recently departed. We usually have a ceremony around it at night. I mean it’s just a bunch of meditation and praying so if you don’t want to…”

“Nah, I’d like to.” Otabek kissed his cheek and a different triplet made a barfing noise. Yuri batted her with his foot.

“If you want, you can hang someone up on the tree,” a triplet offered and Otabek tried not to look on in awe as a spool of ribbon began unwinding when she snapped her fingers.

Otabek glanced at the stack of photographs, some were black and white, others seemed more recent. “It’s okay. I don’t have any pictures anyway.”

“You didn’t bring any _pictures for Samhain night_?” She sounded like it should have been common sense.

“Come on guys,” Yuri sighed. “Don’t be mean; it’s his first Samhain.”

They gave each other an unimpressed look. “Are you even a warlock?”

“Nope. I’m… uh,” normal wasn’t the right word. “Regular?”

Yuri pecked the underside of his jaw.

“You two are so gross.”

“Yeah, get a room.”

Chuckling, Yuri stood up and pulled Otabek after him. When the triplets looked up to see what they were doing, he pulled Otabek into a long deep kiss, tonguing at his lips and grabbing his waist.

“Ewww!” the triplets screamed and Yuri smiled into the kiss, hiking his leg up over Otabek’s thigh. When they began giggling between gagging and Otabek felt a marker hit the back of his head, he reached down grabbing handfuls of Yuri’s ass. They screamed.

Otabek had to pull away; it was impossible to kiss through the chuckles that bubbled up his chest.

The rest of the preparations were pretty simple, just some cleaning, polishing furniture, and setting out drinks, ice, and a few snacks  for when Viktor’s family started to arrive. By the time the sun started to set, Yuuri ushered him upstairs to go change.

There was a knock on his door as Otabek straightened his black bowtie. Yuri had told him that he didn’t really need to dress up, but after seeing Minako’s and the triplets’ dresses, and Yuuri’s father’s vest and tie, he figured he should do something nicer than jeans and a button-up shirt. Well, he was still in jeans, he hadn’t brought any slacks, but he had brought a dark grey button up and one of his favourite cream sweaters. Yuri poked his head in, his hair up in an elaborate braided bun, and his eyes were dark and smokey. Otabek’s hands fell from his bowtie and he held them out inviting Yuri in for a hug.

“You ready?” he asked, stepping fully into the room.

He was in a fitted black, button up, with an ornate silver necklace tucked under his collar. His black pants were painted on, but his pink, cat-faced socks stopped him from looking too serious.

“You look amazing,” he breathed, as Yuri padded up to him.

Grinning, Yuri smoothed his hand along Otabek’s jaw. “You clean up nice too, Altin.”

“Thanks.” He reached up, cupping Yuri’s jaw to guide him down into a kiss. They’d kissed a lot today. But before their lips could meet, a furry paw swiped at Otabek’s nose.  

Potya was suddenly around Yuri’s shoulders, glaring at Otabek. “No,” she snapped, swiping again for good measure.

“Potya,” Yuri admonished as her tail curled around his throat.

“No,” she repeated.

Yuri rolled his eyes, scratching her under his chin. “Anyway, I need to do one more thing before we go back downstairs. It’s, um, a spell.”

Otabek raised an eyebrow, excitement spiking in his stomach. “Like a real spell or… one of those things you just say?”

Yuri narrowed his eyes. “They’re all real spells. Just that some do more than others.”

“O… kay.”

He chuckled, grabbing Otabek’s hand and twining their fingers together. “Come on, it’s gonna be cool.”

Yuri lead him into the attic, and even after all of the normalcy of the rest of the house, Otabek expected cobwebs and bats. Once again he was wrong. The attic was finished, walls made with white drywall and warm inset lights. But there were shelves with hundreds of glass bottles, and a three foot tall cast iron cauldron in front of a floor-to-ceiling window. They sky was black outside, but Otabek could imagine how moonlight would shine through and illuminate the dark iron.

“Okay, this is pretty cool.” He bent down to see what was written on the labels of the jars. There was cypress, frankincense, henbane, nux oil… snake skin. Wow. “Finally something witchy. I knew you had a cauldron.”

Yuri batted the back of his head, and Potya finally jumped from his shoulders, and settled on a velvet pillow on top of one of the shelves. She curled up into a ball, still staring him down.

“So what are you making?” He asked, giving Potya his back. Her eyes were unnerving, like she was plotting his slow death.

“Protection salt.” Yuri was stooped down in front of the lower shelf scanning the bottles.

“What does it do?”

“It… protects.”

“No shit.”

Yuri giggled. “Seriously, that’s what it’s for. Protection from negativity and weaker evil spirits. It helps with nightmares and dispels mal-intent. We usually make it around Samhain ‘cause that’s when the veil is thinnest.”

“The veil between the living and the dead?” Otabek’s spine tingled.

“Yeah.” Yuri picked up one of the bottles and tucked it under his arm. “This spells calls upon the energy of ancestors to ask them to protect us.”

“Is that safe?”

Yuri turning to him, raising an eyebrow and smirking. “Are you scared?”

“Am I going to see any ghosts?”

“Spirits,” he corrected. “But if that’s what you’re worried about you shouldn’t have decided to date a witch-”

“A witch-”

“Warlock. Fuck, you know what I meant.”

Otabek snickered, watching as Yuri set down a few jars on the scarred and stained wooden table next to the cauldron.

“Is that…” He bent to read the label. “Salt? Like actual salt? Like the kind you get at the grocery for 2.50?”

“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t ride my broomstick to the Bolivian salt lakes and hand pick each grain.”

He clicked his tongue. “I’m disappointed in you.”

Yuri snorted, bumping him with his hip. “You’re really annoying, you know that, right?” He pulled out a set of brass bowls from under the table and began measuring out the herbs from the jars. “I thought you were so cool when we first met.”

“I’m not cool now?”

“Not since you started talking.”

Otabek opened his mouth to argue, but couldn’t think of anything. It wasn’t the first time he had heard that. And it wasn’t his fault that what people equated with being cool, like being all stoic and silent all the time, was just so boring. Excuse him for not wanting to talk all the time, or not being chatty with people he didn’t know. But if he thought something was funny or amusing he was going to share no matter how lame it was.

“Rude,” he mumbled, leaning over to rest his elbows against the opposite side of the table.

Yuri smiled, picking up a scrap of paper from a jar in the centre of the table. He carefully wrote something on it with a beat up, pencil nub and rolled it up tightly before setting it at the bottom of a clean bowl.

“What was that?” Otabek rounded the table to stand next to him.

“It just said protection.”

“In like runes or something? The ancient language or like-”

Sighing Yuri picked the paper back up and unrolled it. “Literally, just protection.”

“Oh.”

He rolled his eyes, putting the paper back in the bowl, and pouring the herb mixture over it. “Anyway, we’re supposed to be concentrating. Asking our ancestors for their help and protection.”

“Oh, me too?”

“ _Yes_.” Yuri closed his eyes, taking deep even breaths and holding his palms out to the bowl. “Picture them standing beside you.”

Okay. He felt kind of dumb, but he held out his hands and closed his eyes. He pictured his grandparents in traditional Kazakh wear, furs and intricately embroidered tunics. He had no clue what his great grandparents looked like, but he could see figures all similarly dressed, standing in a long line. He was probably just humoring Yuri at this point; he didn’t really have a strong connection with his heritage, well he did love his country, he was proud of his culture, but his actual family lineage was vague at best. He didn’t know the names and faces of anyone that came before his grandparents. They were mostly Kazakh with quite a bit of Korean and Mongolian mixed in and some Uzbek from his mother’s side. He cracked an eye open, watching Yuri. He probably knew everything about his family tree names, dates of birth and death and even blood type.

Sighing softly, he glanced to the bowl of herbs, letting his vision go out of focus as he stared. He had never really been good at praying or reflection; going to the mosque had been pure torture. He glanced back up to Yuri, wondering how long he was going to do this and blinked a few times to clear his vision, because the air around Yuri seemed a bit cloudy. And holy shit, it was cloudy. His jaw dropped. It was a fine swirling fog and he swore the curls made faces as they lazily drifted through the air, caressing Yuri’s face and arms.

He took a step back, his heart thudding and his stomach slowly dropping. The longer he stared the more blurry everything got, but the clearer a single shadow behind Yuri became. It was a shadow. It wasn’t Yuri’s shadow, too big and too broad. His spine tingled, goosebumps rising on his skin. It reminded him of the time the evil spirit had manifested in their dorm, he had felt someone watching him, before the light had blown and Yuri sprung into action. It had been almost suffocating, the air suddenly too thick to breathe. But he could breathe this time, and the lights kept on burning. The fine smoke around Yuri kept on swirling and Yuri kept his eyes closed, his brow furrowing in concentration.

Swallowing, he stepped back towards the table, reminding himself that this wasn’t like the time in the dorm. This was good magic, Yuri’s magic. He raised his palms again, holding them out to the bowl. They were shaking. He glanced back up to Yuri’s face, and his chest turned to stone. That was a face, it was definitely a face. An old man’s face with a beard and a moustache and a paperboy hat-

Yuri’s eyes fluttered open and the haze disappeared from around him.

“Beka?” He asked uneasily. “Are you okay?” He realised his mouth was open again, and he was breathing quickly. He swallowed, nodding. Well, he must have looked as shaken up as he felt. Yuri frowned, setting his hand over Otabek’s forearm. “Did you see something?”

“I… might have. I’m not sure.”

Yuri squeezed his arm. “It’s okay. There’s a lot of magical energy tonight so I wouldn’t be strange if you did. Plus, they’re just our ancestors coming to help. Nothing bad, nothing to hurt you.” He nodded, forcing himself to take deep breaths. “They’re here to protect us. Can you focus on that?” He nodded again, and Yuri leaned over to press his lips to his cheek. “Okay now this is the fun part.” He raised his hands again, holding his palms out to the bowl. Otabek’s skin started to prickle. The back of his neck itched and his arm hair felt like it was standing on end. It felt like energy this time, like when a staticy balloon pressing against his skin. Yuri mumbled something under his breath, then with a woosh of air and a crack the bowl caught fire.

Otabek yelped, jumping backwards as the smell of burning rosemary and sage filled the room. “Holy shit,” he looked from the fire to Yuri. Holy shit, this was all so bizzare, all the ghosts, or spirits, and now fire. His heart was racing again, but he swallowed and focused on the almost serene expression on Yuri’s face.  “Finally, actual magic. I _knew_ you could set stuff on fire.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “You are such an idiot.” He wrapped an arm around Otabek’s waist, pulling him tightly against his side. “And now we wait for this to burn out.”

It took a while, long enough for his heart rate to go back to normal, and for the smell of the burning herbs to sink into his clothes. He held Yuri’s hand tightly, slotting their fingers together and playing with Yuri’s pale, bony knuckles and lilac nails. His hands were thin and long almost delicate, exactly like the rest of him. He didn’t even notice when the fire burned out.

Yuri ground the ashes into a fine dust with a marble pestle. He carefully mixed in the salt, then grabbed Otabek’s hand again.

“Are we done?” he asked, looking down at the black salt.

Yuri shook his head, picking up the bowl with his free hand and motioning him to hold it too. “We’re going to call on our ancestors again. It’s easy, Beka, nothing scary.”

Otabek nodded squeezing his hand before closing his eyes like how Yuri had done before. He heard him take in a long breath before speaking.

“For protection, for safety, to banish negativity. With my ancestors’ spirits united beside me.To encourage the positive and dispel the rest, I consecrate these salts, this spell is now blessed.”

The hairs at the back of his neck stood on end again, and his skin prickled, but when he opened his eyes, everything was normal. Yuri smiled at him, setting the bowl down.

“Now we’re done.”

Otabek let out a deep breath, his insides quivering. Well, this wasn’t the first encounter he had with Yuri’s magic, but he still felt somewhat shaken.

“You know, I kind of expected you guys to use magic for every little thing. I mean like floating saucepans, self-sweeping brooms, and, like I don’t know, Harry Potter stuff. But this feels, I don’t know, almost reverent, more ritualistic.”

Yuri blinked, his smile giving way to shock. He reached out, resting his palm against the side of Otabek’s neck, gently massaging a tendon and his smile slowly came back. “It is a ritual. It’s about balance and harmony, insight, nature, and energy. I’m… I’m glad you noticed that.” His chest turned light and warm, as he placed his palm over Yuri’s. “But don’t get me wrong, Harry Potter is fucking awesome.”

Voices floated up from the living room as Otabek and Yuri came down from the attic. Viktor’s side of the family had probably arrived. He saw Yuri hug the jar of protection salt to his stomach and take a deep breath, fingers playing with the green-blue amazonite stone that he had moved from his neck to his wrist. The courage stone.

“You okay?” He asked, wrapping an arm around his waist. Yuri stumbled into his side before he found his footing. Otabek wasn’t sure of the exact story, but he knew there was family drama between Yuri’s dad and the others, maybe because of him. He didn’t think it was his place to ask.

“Yeah,” Yuri breathed. “It’s just that, Viktor’s family doesn’t… like me much.”

Otabek tilted his head. “But he’s your brother.”

“Half brother.” He corrected as Potya jumped up his back and swatted Otabek’s ear before perching herself across his shoulders. Yuri scratched under her chin with the tip of his finger. “Our dad cheated on Viktor’s mom with mine.” Oh. Otabek couldn’t stop the surprise from flooding his face. Yuri sighed again. “Yeah.”

“They’re just a bunch of snobs anyway,” Otabek hugged him despite the faceful of cat tail he got.

“You don’t even know them.”

“But still.”

The Nikiforov family was beautiful, like Russian royalty. High cheekbones, white blonde hair, and pale eyes. The forehead was definitely genetic. At least Yuri somehow managed to cover his most of the time. They were talking politely with the Katsukis, all dressed in dark dresses and suits and Otabek suddenly felt out of place in his sweater and bow tie.

“Yuri,” a man with neatly parted silver hair and faint lines on his forehead and around his eyes turned to them with a smile as the descended the stairs.

“Hi, dad,” Yuri mumbled, accepting the stiff hug, but making no move to return it.

“You look well, how is school?”

“I’m in university now.” Thick silver eyebrows shot up. “Natural health sciences, remember? I started this fall.”

He hummed. “Where does the time go? You were just learning how to walk the other day.”

“Yeah, well…”

He turned to Otabek, raising an eyebrow. “And who’s this?”

Yuri took another deep breath. “Otabek Altin, my boyfriend.”

“Oh.” Despite his obvious shock, he politely held out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, welcome.”

“Thank you, sir.” He shook his hand, trying not to seem intimidated. Yuri’s father didn’t seem _mean,_ just he was Yuri’s father. They had the same nose and wide almost feline eyes, but Yuri must have taken more after his mother.

“I hope you’ve been treating my son well. He’s always been a bit… fragile.”

Otabek glanced to Yuri. Fragile? “I’ve been doing my best, sir. But most of the time he’s been the one protecting me.”

He hummed turning back to Yuri. “How have your visions been? Are they getting easier to handle?”

Yuri’s gaze fell to his feet. “Yeah. I haven’t had one in a while, though. I thought you knew.”

There was an awkward pause. “I didn’t.” He set a hand on Yuri’s shoulder. Otabek could see his knees buckle under the weight. “You really should be training your talent. Talk to your grandmother tonight.”

“Yes.”

He smiled at Otabek again before excusing himself. Yuri swore under his breath once he was out of earshot. Otabek was still reeling.

“You have visions?” He asked.

“They’re more like premonitions.”

“You can see the future?”

“Sometimes.”

“Yuri, that’s so fucking cool-“

“No. It’s not.” He ground his teeth together. “It’s not fucking cool when I can’t even understand half of what I see and I’m so tired afterwards all I can do is lie down and wait for my head to stop hurting.”

Otabek blinked, withering slightly. “Oh…sorry I-“

“No, it’s… you didn’t know.” He went back to petting Potya.

She cracked an eye open glaring at Otabek. “My master is an incredibly talented seer. But it sometimes hurts him.”

Yuri rolled his eyes and flicked her ear. “Hush, you.” She started purring.

He could have asked, but something told him not too. Especially as fine wisps of smoke began swirling over his head, almost like a halo. The back of his neck was prickling again.

“Anyway,” Yuri grabbed Otabek’s hand, setting the jar of salt on an end table. “Those are my grandparents, they probably won’t be saying hi, and that’s my aunt, her kids and husband, and that’s another uncle talking to Viktor.”

Otabek nodded, reaching up to scratch at the back of his neck. Apart from Yuri, it felt like someone was right next to him. He wished he could have said that was the first time he felt like this. There were countless times he felt like he was being followed, and swore he saw someone out of the corner of his eye. But this though -

“Hey you sure you’re okay?”

“Hmm,” he snapped his eyes to Yuri’s face. “Uh yeah. Just thought I saw something.”

Yuri raised an eyebrow, pulling him to the glass door that let to the patio and pool. “What kind of something?” He asked, slipping through the door and closing it behind them. Dim, orange lights shone from sconces along the wall, reflecting off the smooth, black ,mirror surface of the pool. The air was chilly, cutting straight through his sweater and he wondered how Yuri was fairing in only a button-up.

“Uh, I’m not sure.”

Yuri hummed, sitting down on one of the pool chairs and pulling Otabek down next to him. “Lots of spirits are bound to be out tonight. But let me know if you see something _different_ , or like feel something bad.”

“Yeah.” How was he supposed to tell him that something was hanging around his head, though? “Um, Yura-“

“There you two are,” Viktor poked his head through the door. “Come, we’re ready to start.”

They settled in the living room everyone facing the Samhain tree. Otabek took a seat at one of the dining chairs pulled up against the far wall. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen but, he didn’t want to be front and centre. The triplets had decorated the tree with the photographs and a few paper baubles, but Yuri and the younger Nikiforovs went up to add a few more pictures. Yuri only had one, and if Otabek squinted hard enough he could just make out an old man’s face grinning widely and tilting his paperboy hat. It spun when he hung it up and a single word was written on the back in Cyrillic. Dedulya. Grandpa. He was silent went he sat down on the chair next to Otabek, winding his arms around his stomach and staring at his lap.

Oh. Swallowing, Otabek grabbed Yuri’s hand and ran his thumb over his knuckles. Yuri gave him a small, sad smile. The smoke was swirling around him again, slowly but getting more opaque by the second and spreading out to curl around Otabek’s face as well.

“Don’t be sad, Yurochka,” he mumbled, his breath coming out like a wisp if air. “He loves you.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Yuri blinked owlishly as his eyebrows dipped into a frown. Otabek blinked. Wait, what? Had he said something?

“Uh-“

“How did you know he called me Yurochka?”

“What, who?”

“My Dedulya… you just called me Yurochka.”

Otabek frowned. “I… didn’t Viktor call you that?”

“No. It’s Yura or Yurio.”

“Uh,” he wasn’t sure what to say. His tongue must have messed up again.

“Beka, are you-“

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as Yuri’s grandfather stood up and cleared his throat. The lights dimmed, and with a gust of wind every single candle in the room was lit. Otabek breathed in, his mouth dropping open slightly. The Samhain tree didn’t have any lights but was illuminated by the coffee table - altar. It was actually eerily beautiful. The dancing flames making shadows bob and weave in between the branches. It was almost hypnotising. Maybe this meditation thing wouldn’t be so hard.

Yet, Otabek zoned out as soon as Yuri’s grandfather started talking, his voice sounding like every Imam he was forced to listen to. A hush fell over the room when he was done his short speech asking the departed for their wisdom, guidance, and clarity for the new year. He stared at his lap, already feeling restless in the silence, then glanced around the room to see everyone sitting with their eyes closed. Even the pets - _familiars_ , Otabek - were lying quietly in the corner of the room, either sleeping or actually meditating as well. The silence stretched on forever, and Otabek held back a yawn. Okay, he just needed to focus; he could at least try to be respectful. He closed his eyes, picturing his grandparents, their smiling round faces and thick Almatian accents. His skin started to prickle, the back of his neck and his ears, and air felt like it was moving through his lungs rather than him breathing it. Then ever so slowly the floor began to tilt, even as he opened his eyes it all fell away. Was this supposed to happen? He turned to Yuri and his heart stopped.

The chair next to him had been empty before. Otabek opened his mouth, but for once in his life he couldn’t get his tongue to work. He stared past Yuri to the man sitting next to him. He was old, his face heavily lined, but his eyes were sparkling, a mesmerizing shade of blue-green. Just like Yuri’s. He sucked in a hiss, eyes flying to the worn paperboy hat, then the neatly trimmed beard. His heart began to thud heavily, like a war drum and his fingers were tingling once again. The old man noticed him staring and offered him a wide grin.

“I… I just had to see him.” He said, well he didn’t actually say anything. Otabek heard him, but it wasn’t with his ears. It was like his voice was coming from inside his head, and echoing up his chest. “It’s the one night of the year when I can almost touch him.” He reach out trailing an hand along Yuri’s cheek, curling smoke rising from his fingers. Surprisingly, Yuri leaned into the touch even if his eyes didn’t open.

“You miss him?” Otabek asked without saying anything aloud.

“More with every passing year.”  He smiled sadly.

“He can’t see you?”

“Not as clearly as you can.”

What? Otabek frowned. He chuckled, adjusting his hat. “You’re a special one. I can see why he likes you.” Otabek’s cheeks heated, and he glanced back to Yuri his stomach fluttering. “And why you like him. Continue to take good care of him for me. Heavens know he needs it.”

“He’s strong.”

“I know.”

“He’s amazing.”

“I know.”

Otabek swallowed; his throat felt like sand. Everything was still spinning, like a lazy kaleidoscope, shapes and colours blurring around Yuri’s grandpa’s face. “When you go back, tell him that I love him and I’m always watching over him. He doesn’t need to ask like this.”

“O… okay.” Wait, _back_?

He smiled sadly again, reaching over Yuri and placing a single finger to his forehead. “You’re father loved you very much too; he’s sorry for hurting you.”

Wait, what? Before he could even form the question, something tugged him backwards, like a rope behind his navel. The first thing he felt was pain, something that radiated from deep within his chest, blocked his throat and made his lungs feel like lead. He clutched at the front of his shirt, his vision blurring until all he could see was a jumble of quickly fading colours. He was falling, but no, he was still sitting down; he could feel the chair underneath him. Yuri’s face swam into focus, but it wasn’t Yuri, well it was, but he was much younger, a child, with round cheeks and a horrendous bowl-cut. His eyes were red and puffy and he was reaching out, pulling away from a shadowed figure that was trying to hold him still.

“No!” He was screaming, but sounded so far away even though he was _right there_. Otabek’s stomach twisted. “No! Don’t go! Please, Deda!”

“It’s okay, Yurochka, I’ll be right back.” Otabek looked around for his grandpa, but his voice echoed from everywhere. “I’m just going to get something to make your headache better.”

He could tell Yuri started screaming again but everything was drowned out by a pang of powerful longing, sadness, regret, but above that something so tender his entire body ached. Taking a deep breath, he screwed his eyes shut, trying to block it all out and his feet hit the ground and the living room clunked back into place. He was on his feet, staring at the floor. Bits and pieces of conversations buzzed back to him, and his skin was tingling.

He swallowed tasting salt, and slowly looked around; dotted in between the chatting family members  were shimmery people he didn’t recognise. Yuri’s grandfather was sitting in the same spot, smiling tenderly up at him.

“Beka?” Yuri asked, getting to his feet as well.

He cleared his throat softly. It sounded wet, wetter than it should have been. “Uh,” his voice was choked too. “I just - sorry, I… your grandpa… spoke…” wait, was he crying?

Yuri’s eyes widened and he grabbed Otabek’s hands, holding tightly. “My grandpa? You… you see him?” His eyes flickered to the seat next to his.

“Yeah, he’s… right, there. And the others…”

Yuri’s breath was shaky. “Others. You can _see_ them?”

He nodded as Yuri gently eased him back into his seat. He was silent for a moment while Otabek’s stomach twisted and he swore he could see his breath. He couldn’t help but stare as the spirits moved around as if they were having their own party, smiling and laughing even if they didn’t exactly interact with the living people in the room. He wasn’t the only one who could see them right? The others were actual witches and warlocks, they had to notice something. Right? He swallowed. What the fuck was going on?

“Beka…” Yuri’s voice cut through his thoughts and he became aware of his shallow breathing. “Can you actually see them?”

He swallowed. “You can’t?” Allah, no. He had to be able to see them. _He_ was the magical one here. Him not Otabek.

“I… can.” He breathed a sigh of relief. “In a way.” Fuck. “I can feel them mostly and see disturbances in the air, kind of like heat waves. But I guess it’s more emotions than senses, but you can actually _see_ them? Clearly?”

“Am I not supposed to?” Fuck. What the hell. What was going on?

Yuri swallowed, grabbing his hand and squeezing. “It’s okay, Beka. No one here would dream of hurting you. You’re not _not_ supposed to be able to see them, but… usually it takes training and a lot of focus.” Oh. Okay, his ears were staring to ring and he could definitely see his breath. “Are you... a medium?”

“A medium?” He blinked, exhaustion beginning to creep into every single muscle fibre. “No, I wear large.”

Yuri’s jaw dropped and he looked like he wanted to both slap and kiss him.

 

“Have you always been able to see spirits?” Yuuri asked, handing him a glass of a bubbling, clear liquid. Yuri had guided him outside, yanking Yuuri with them as well. Viktor and the dogs had followed, and Yuri’s grandpa had stepped through the closed glass door. Now they were sitting around an empty fire pit and Otabek was trying not to shiver. Vicchan was a soft, tiny ball of warmth in his lap, but he eyed Makkachin lying at Viktor’s feet wishing he was on his lap as well.

“I… don’t know.” He took the glass from Yuuri, nearly flinching when his fingers met warmth. It didn’t look like it should have been warm. Yuri rested his cheek against his shoulder and Otabek’s nose was flooded with rosemary, sage, and his Moroccan shampoo. Otabek breathed in deeply and tried not to stare as his grandpa settled on the opposite side of the fire pit.

Yuuri sat down next to Viktor. “Have you ever noticed things out of the corner of your eye? Maybe saw shadows moving, or light behaving weird?”

“Uh,” he took a deep breath, his eyes flickering across the fire pit. Well, the answer to that wasn't no. “When I was younger I used to get in trouble a lot for telling _lies_. I think I remember seeing people that my friends couldn't, and hearing things. My parents didn’t like it. So I stopped.” Well it hadn’t stopped, he just stopped telling people about it. No one wanted to be friends with the weird kid who had imaginary friends or whatever. And if he ignored them hard enough and concentrated on something else he wouldn't see or hear anything at all. But that had been very long ago.

Yuri let out a harsh sigh. “This makes so much sense. I thought it was our room that the spirits were attracted to, but it was _you_. How have you managed to stay safe all this time?”

“Um,” What?

Yuuri shook his head, settling a hand against Otabek’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about that. Now that we know you’re a medium, we know how to better help you.”

“I need help?” Okay, why were his fingers tingling.

Yuuri smiled at him. “Not in the way you’re thinking. Drink up.”

He glanced down to the bubbling water and took a small sip. It was spicy. Why was the water spicy? “What is this?”

“It just water with a heating spell.”

He raised an eyebrow, taking another sip and feeling a tingling warmth spread out from his stomach.

“Yuri told us that your dorm room was haunted.” Viktor began. “That spirit after spirit kept on finding their way in through his wards.”

“Oh.” Uh well, the room this year had seemed different. There was a constant draft. And the door just would not stay open even if they used a door stop. The bulb had also blown like three times since August. He swallowed, was that all because of him? Yuri hugged him, winding his arms around his waist.

“As a medium,” Yuuri began, “spirits are naturally drawn to you. You act like a bridge between the living and the dead, and, untrained, you call out to them like a beacon.”

Oh. Well fuck. Yuri had had his work cut out for him then.

“You’re honestly pretty lucky that nothing malevolent came after you before.” Viktor added. “It’s strange.”

“Aren’t you Muslim?” Yuri asked softly.

Otabek nodded. “Kind of. My parents are, uh, devout Muslims. I pretty much grew up in a mosque.” He had hated it, sitting down and reciting the same words over and over, and the the incense made him dizzy and clogged his lungs.

Viktor’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as religious.”

“I’m not.”

“Oh...”

He sighed, offering up the explanation before either one of them could ask. “I was forced into it for a while. Actually up until I left for university.” So all the prayers and blessings his mom had given him had worked?

“And since then have you noticed anything different?”

He sighed again, scratching the back of his neck. “I dunno. I guess. Weird stuff happened in the dorm all the time.”

“Like?”

He shrugged, trying to focus on his breathing.

Viktor opened his mouth to say something, but Yuuri placed a hand on his knee. “We’ve given you a lot to think about, so take your time and let me know when you’re ready for my help.”

“What do I need to do?”

“Um, well… for a start, we’ll need to teach you how to keep the spirits away.” Otabek blinked, staring at where Yuri’s grandpa had been, but he had disappeared.

Viktor and Yuuri went back inside a while later. It was almost time for dinner and there were a few last minute things Yuuri wanted to do. Viktor followed, giving Yuri a not so subtle wink. Otabek missed Vicchan’s warmth instantly, but Yuri cuddled up against his side.

“You okay, Beka?” He asked, gently kissing the side of his neck.

“I, uh, yeah.” He wound his arms around Yuri’s waist pulling him onto his lap. “I just never even thought that I could have been… you know.” He chuckled humorlessly. “I guess there was a reason for my weirdness.”

Yuri kissed his nose. “You’re not that weird. Well, I mean, you say weird things and you have the sense of humour of a five year old.” Otabek snickered causing Yuri to sigh and roll his eyes.

“When I was younger, I said things that I sometimes wasn’t even aware of. Like really strange things, things a kid shouldn’t be saying. Do you think…”

“Spirits could have been talking through you? It’s very likely. Katsudon would know more about it than me. He’s a medium too. A really strong one, possibly the strongest one in this part of the world.”

Really? Otabek’s jaw dropped. “But he’s so…”

“Pathetic?”

“ _Unassuming_.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “I guess sometimes it’s hard for him to tell what’s a spirit and what’s not. He sees them so clearly, he can’t even tell they’re not alive. It’s like he exists in both worlds at the same time.” Otabek breathed in deeply, suddenly feeling even colder. “So, he guards himself a bit more than he should, and he’s anxious a lot.”

“And Viktor?”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “He’s a Nikiforov, an ancient magical family. So he’s just a pure-blooded warlock and ridiculously overpowered.”

“So that part’s like Harry Potter? There are pure-bloods and half-bloods. So that would make me muggle-born?”

Yuri snickered, and they fell into silence. Otabek was still reeling slightly, but his thoughts seemed to be slowing down now, clearing a bit and making it easier to think. He’d seen a spirit, he’d always been able to see spirits, but now he wasn’t some weird kid who made his parents angry all the time.

“Hey, Yura,” he mumbled, pressing his face against Yuri’s boney shoulder.

“Hmmm?”

“Your Grandpa told me to tell you that he loves you, and he’s always watching over you.” He felt Yuri tense, his entire body going rigid as he turned to look Otabek directly in the face.

“He told you that?”

He swallowed. “And it wasn’t your fault. None of it was. Not the vision, not the headache, and certainly not the accident.”

Yuri blinked, his face twisting into pain. Otabek hugged him tightly, feeling him take several shuddering breaths. There was still residual regret, but Otabek’s chest was heavy with a bittersweet warmth that didn’t entirely belong to him.

“What was his name?” he asked softly stroking Yuri’s back.

“Nikolai. Nikolai Plisetsky.” He felt like he knew that.

“You took your mother’s name.”

Yuri nodded, his nose was cold against Otabek’s throat. “My dad was - is - an asshole. He tried  to keep me a secret. If he had his way Viktor and my grandparents wouldn’t even know about me. But then my mom died and then Grandpa… and he didn’t have a fucking choice. And then he found out about my visions and was suddenly father of the year.”

Otabek’s eyes started to prickle. Fuck, well that was a lot of shit. And his dad still had the gall to look him in the face and hug him? “My father called me a freak. He was just done with me acting so weird all the time and lying… he had cancer. It got pretty bad and they couldn’t do anything to help. But he died suddenly and that was the last thing he said to me.” He paused to take a deep breath. “I’m not trying to upstage you. But I just, I know how it feels when your family makes you feel like shit.”

Yuri pulled away, looking down at him with wide eyes. He’d never really talked about his family. Well, he’d mentioned his mom and sister, and he’d caught him on the phone with them a few times. It was something he made a point of not sharing.

“We’re a pair aren’t we?” he asked after a short silence. “Bonding over shitty parents.” Yuri rolled his eyes, slapping his chest lightly. “So, you used to have a bowl cut?” He eyed Yuri, trying not to grin when his eyes widened and his jaw tensed.

“Fuck,” he mumbled, cheeks darkening. “How did you even find out?”

“Your grandpa showed me.”

Yuri groaned, covering his face with his hands. “Forget you ever saw that.”

Otabek chuckled, pressing his mouth to Yuri’s neck. “You were still cute, though.”

“I was fucking adorable,” he grumbled, running his fingers through Otabek’s hair. “Still am.”

“Agreed.” He guided him down for a kiss, hoping, pleading that was what he needed to chase away the last bit of tremors in his stomach and the coldness tingling his limbs. Yuri’s mouth moved against his, but Otabek could tell that there was something buzzing at the back of his mind. He pulled back with a sigh, cupping Yuri’s cheek.

“What is it?”

Yuri’s eyes widened before he looked away. “I… uh. It’s not important right now.”

“Yura.”

He sighed. “I just… well. Did my grandpa tell you anything else? What did he show you?” Otabek blinked. “I you don’t want to answer it’s okay, I know everything is so confusing for you right now, and it was probably hard to understand and process-”

“He didn’t say much.” He ran his thumb along Yuri’s cheekbone. “He misses you, but he’s happy that you’re happy now. He wants nothing more than your happiness.” Yuri’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “He loves you so much, Yura, and he’s so proud of you.” His chest was suddenly too small, too small and tight and cloudy.

Yuri curled over, pressing his face to the centre of Otabek’s chest and clutching the front of his shirt. Otabek didn’t know what else to do other than hold him. And he wondered if Yuri could feel that Nikolai was now behind him, stroking his back.

 

The triplets had called them inside, yelling at them to stop making out. Yuri’s cheeks were still a bit red, and refused to make eye contact with any of the snickering adults. Also, it totally wasn’t Otabek’s imagination that Potya was giving him a death glare from her perch on the back of the couch. He swallowed looking away, then apologised for bumping into someone before he realised they were a spirit. His heart beat from his throat and he hissed so loudly, a few people turned to look at him. The spirit apologised, before dissipating into a white wisp of smoke.

Yuri grabbed his hand, smoothing his thumb across his knuckles and Otabek tried to get his breathing back to normal. Okay, it was okay. He was okay. He took another deep breath, turning to the dining table.

The smell of all sorts of warm and hearty foods had hit him in the face as soon as he and Yuri had come back inside, but Otabek’s eyes bulged when he saw the amount of food on the table. Yuuri and his mother must have used some kind of spell to stop time because there was no way they could have done all of this in one afternoon. There were mashed potatoes, roasted pumpkin and squash, candied yams, a bunch of different kinds of salads, and a huge dish of sliced meats. Stuffing, _and_ stuffed chicken, a bowl of seasoned potato cubes, dinner rolls, macaroni and cheese, roasted broccoli and carrots, and even more food hiding on the far end of the table.

“Okay,” Otabek mumbled. “ _This_ is witchcraft.”

Yuri giggled. “Yeah, some magic might have been involved. Katsudon has perfected all sorts of heating spells. I don’t think he even uses the oven most of the time. And he’s insane at multitasking. He can have like five different spells going at once. I mean basic levitation spells are easy, but he also does animation to get the all the food and utensils to do exactly what he wants.”

Otabek blinked. “How did I miss all of that?”

Yuri pushed Otabek into a chair next to Yuuri’s friend, Yuuko. “He didn’t want to overwhelm you with all the magic.”

He wouldn’t have been overwhelmed: it would have been cool. And well, this was his life now. He loaded his plate with everything that could fit, his mouth watering even before he took the first bite.

Dinner was almost the exact opposite from the ceremony and meditation before. Everyone was loud and chatty, the sounds off dishes moving and cutlery clicking filled the room. The dogs were in a corner, eating their fill out of matching bowls and Yuuri’s father’s collie had her own dish too. Even Potya had left him alone to pick at her own dish of turkey strips, with a crow perched on her shoulder taking bits when she allowed it to. Yuuko’s tabby cat, and two more fluffy black ones were eating away as well. The spirits were still milling around the Samhain tree, and Otabek noticed a few of the soul cakes from the altar missing. It was still so weird, but with the warmth of the room, all the light chatter, and the bright, yellow lights he couldn’t bring himself to be scared or even freaked out too badly. It actually felt really homey, warm, and like what he always imagined a family dinner should be.

Yuri scooted his chair closer to Otabek’s without anyone noticing, and their elbows and shoulders kept on brushing as they moved. He didn’t think much of it, but then he stole a cube of potato off of Otabek’s plate and grinned up at him. Otabek nudged him with his shin, just then realising how close he was.

“Get your own,” he mumbled, pushing Yuri’s fork away with his own.

“But your own taste better.” He managed his way through, stealing a chunk of macaroni, giggling around his fork when he ate it.

Otabek bit his lip smiling, nudging Yuri with his knee. Then transferring his fork to his other hand reached under the table to squeeze Yuri’s thigh. Yuri’s eyes widened a fraction, before his cheeks turned the slightest bit red and he shuffled even closer. He set his hand over Otabek’s guiding it up his thigh. Oh, okay, they were doing this. Otabek turned back to his plate, glancing around the table to see if they were still safe, before running his palm along Yuri’s inner thigh. He didn’t miss the way Yuri’s fingers tightened around his fork. But just as he moved his hand higher, knuckles bumping into the crotch of his pants the back of his chair shook and a furry clawed paw smacked his arm. Potya’s claws caught in his sweater as she pulled him away from Yuri.

“No,” she yowled, loud enough to get everyone’s attention. “I’ll have you neutered if you don’t stop it!”

Otabek’s cheeks heated as Yuri pushed Potya away, scolding her. There was a loud thump when she jumped back to the ground. But now everyone was looking at them. Yuri covered his face sliding down in his chair and Otabek wondered if he had the power to disappear like a ghost.

Viktor looked like he wanted to laugh, bending over to pet Potya as she fumed past his chair. “What were you-”

“Nothing!” Yuri yelled, causing a few amused looks to pass around. “Potya’s just a drama queen.”

Hiroko chuckled, just as Yuuri’s sister rolled her eyes and said, “Just like her master.”

Yuri turned red and Otabek imagined that he wasn’t too far behind. He already hated Yuri’s father but the way he was looking at them with a raised eyebrow and lips pulled into a thin line had Otabek’s stomach turning to ash. Okay, he might not actually survive this night.

“Neutered?” Vicchan’s little voice was loud from the familiars’ corner, thankfully drawing some of the attention from them. “Isn’t that what happened to you, Makkachin?”

He’d never seen a dog look speechless before, but Makkachin’s face was priceless when he looked up from his bowl.

Yuuri laughed, glancing over to the animals. “Don’t worry, Vicchan, your vet’s appointment is next month.”

“What?” He sounded betrayed and a little bit scared. Otabek almost felt sorry for him.

Otabek didn’t think he’d ever eaten this much in his life. Even during Eid when his Mother and sister went just as crazy as Yuuri and cooked enough food for the entire neighbourhood. He could barely breathe when he set down his knife and fork. Yuri grinned, watching him sit back and groan softly.

“We still have dessert, you know.”

“What?” Otabek’s eyes widened and he looked around in horror.

“Help clear the table,” he instructed, pushing back his chair and stacking their plates.

It was hard to move, but when he sat back down after helping Yuuri and Viktor to clear the plates and half eaten dishes, then bring out a bakery’s worth of pies and cakes, and cartons of ice cream, his mouth was watering again.

“Wait, before we start,” Yuuri called from the kitchen. “There’s something we need to address.” There were a few murmurs from the Nikiforovs, before Yuuri entered the dining room carrying a huge layered cake. It didn’t have any frosting, but caramelised sliced apples and little, dark berries covered the top, and honey coloured glaze dropped down the sides. There was a candle set right in the middle and Otabek felt his cheeks heat when Yuuri set the thing right in front of him. “We also have a birthday today.”

Otabek looked on helplessly as ‘happy birthdays’ sounded from almost everyone. Yuri had pulled out his phone and started recording.

“Um, thank you,” he mumbled focusing on the candle.

“You’re a Samhain baby!” Minako clapped her hands. “I knew there was something special about you!”

“Special?” Otabek balked. Minako winked at him. Special, not weird. He bit his lip to hide his smile. Special, not weird. He could get used to this.

 

“I’m never moving again,” Otabek groaned stretching along the couch.

After dinner everyone had hung around the living room. He was content to listen to Yuri’s family give updates on everyone and tell funny stories. They almost seemed like a normal family, except that they were all dressed from head to toe in black, the occasional glass of brandy that floated through the air when someone was in need of a refill, and the shimmery spirits, that looked on ammically from the empty seats. The kids had eventually put on a movie, but it was time for everyone to start leaving when the youngest one fell asleep.

Yuri giggled, stretching out next to him and resting his cheek against his chest. Viktor and Yuuri had gone up to bed almost an hour ago, leaving them alone with instructions to turn off all the lights.

“Are you _still_ full?” Yuri asked, poking his stomach.

“Don’t do that!” he hissed. “I’ll throw up all over you.”

Yuri giggled again. “Do you need help going upstairs?”

“Probably,” he sighed. “Yuuri really is a really good cook.”

“Yeah. You should taste his Japanese food. You’ll swear you’re in heaven.”

Otabek pressed his lips to the top of Yuri’s head, his chin hitting his bun. “It’s _better_ than what he made tonight?”

“Like ten times better.”

“ _Holy shit_.”

Yuri snickered. “I’ll ask him to make katsudon when next you come over.”

The air turned to butterflies in Otabek’s lungs. Yeah, next time. There was definitely going to be a next time. He grinned, letting his eyes fall shut. “Wait? What the fuck is katsudon? I thought that was a nickname.”

“You are an idiot,” Yuri hummed, hugging him tightly. “It’s his favourite food. Japanese pork cutlet bowl. Well, I guess it is a nickname. I called him that to annoy him, but he didn’t mind it.”

“You’re such a ray of sunshine.”

Yuri laughed, nuzzling the centre of his chest. “I melt in the sun,” he mumbled.

“Isn’t that vampires?”

“Oh shit, yeah. Um… water. I melt in water.”

“That’s a terrible weakness.” Otabek chuckled softly. “The earth is like seventy percent water. Is that why I’ve never seen a witch before? Do you guys keep on dying?”

Yuri shook his head. “I think you need to go to sleep.” He swatted his cheek before gently kissing him. Their lips smacked loudly in the silence of the room.

Otabek wrapped his arms around his shoulders, breathing in deeply and laughing deep in his chest when Yuri lay back down. It had been a night, _Allah_ , and things were going to change so much from here on out. He was a fucking _medium_ ; he could talk to spirits. But, he looked down at Yuri, curled around him like a cat with his pants undone - because he’d eaten way too much - and a sliver of flamingo-pink underwear visible through the open zipper, an excited trill ran up his spine and down his arms. He was a medium, but Yuri was a _warlock_ , he could see the future, and his entire family could do magic. They’d already welcomed him with open arms and taught him so much so quickly. He could finally start to make sense of his childhood, and well, he was eager to see what was going to happen next.


End file.
